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I read a user-review of the RT-323 who said that his was fine on a DC power supply, but really unreliable on batteries. I tried mine on batteries and, like that of the reviewer, it seemed to crash periodically.

Originally I thought it was due to connector problems, since the way the battery tray connects to the circuit board looks quite precarious. Just in case, I removed the back and the battery tray from the unit, filed the metal contacts at the point they meet the circuit board (just a little to remove any tarnished surface). I screwed it all back to together, making sure that the screw over the contacts was tightened enough to ensure reliable contact.

However, it was just the same, possibly worse - it was still crashing repeatedly on batteries. Wiggling the battery tray didn't seem to make it crash, so I decided that there was nothing wrong with the connections after all.

So I did the obvious - I replaced the batteries. Actually, since they're rechargeable, I discharged and recharged them. So far, it's been working perfectly on batteries. Some devices are a bit sensitive to rechargeable batteries, because they provide a slightly lower voltage than non-rechargeable batteries. My Garmin eTrex is a little like this - it can cut out on rechargeable batteries even when there's lots of charge left to deliver.

Therefore, if you experience your RT-323 crashing on batteries, try replacing or discharging/recharging all of them first, and then maybe look at a possible connector problem. Note that it's worth cycling (discharge then charge) NiHM batteries too - contrary to popular belief, they do actually have memories, just not as pronounced as NiCads.